Selene Gallio
History Hyborian Age Selene was born 17,000 years ago in central Europe, "After the Oceans swallowed Atlantis" and "Before the rise of the sons of Aryas". Selene's mother was young when she bore her and her first born, Delilah, Selene's sister, but would be dead before Selene spoke her first words. The tribal elders ordered her mother's people to sacrifice themselves to Selene until none remained, with Delilah being the only exception to this. They thus gave her sustenance and her name. Some time after this, Delilah and Selene lived peacefully at a village in Norway, until one day a group of vikings came by and attacked the village. As this happened, Selene rushed to find Delilah for protection. After trying and failing to keep the vikings at bay they were captured. It took years for Selene and Delilah to escape. She was an old enemy of sorcerer Kulan Gath. Red Sonja reportedly managed to kill him and his spirit would not manifest again until the modern age. Thus, Selene was active at least as early as the Hyborian Age, and is assumed to have been wandering the world for millennia. Rome During the times of the Roman Empire, Selene had an eye on Senator Eliphas, who was used by others for their own benefit. She came before him, offering him her eternal love and immortality - if he helped her sacrifice the countless souls of Rome. The thousands of souls that she would feed on would allow her to become as powerful as a god. She instructed her pawn to draw symbols around the city in his own blood for the ritual. However, Eliphas performed a small act of compassion by telling a slave girl he gave ruby earrings to about what was going to happen. Her father informed the authorities, who captured both Eliphas and Selene and sentenced them to be burned at the stake. Selene awoke before it could happen and set the flames back against their would-be executioners. Furious at Eliphas for seemingly betraying her, she took his life-force and transformed him into a vampire-like creature, swearing that he would never see her again. Modern Times Selene created the land of Nova Roma in Brazil, bringing outsiders to her paradise with her psychic powers and forcing them to worship her as the Dark Priestess. She led everyone to believe Nova Roma was a colony of the ancient Roman Empire, until she was discovered by the New Mutants. Trying to sacrifice Amarra Aquilla, this last revealed to be a volcanic and revengeful mutant. Solarlock the witch under a rock. The New Mutants were cautious that she was not dead. Intrigued by seeing the young heroes use their powers, Selene traveled to New York City. In New York, Selene seduce Cain Marko in a bar, hoping to absorb his life force, indirectly prevented by the X-Men since happened upon Rachel Summers when sensing her immense power. She attempted to drain her life-force, but was prevented by the X-Men. Soon after, Selene became interested in the Hellfire Club and tried to join its Inner Circle with help from her worshiper Friedrich von Roehm. Sensing Rachel Summers and Magma nearby, she defeated them and offered them as gifts to the Club. While the adolescents were rescued by the X-Men, Selene was admitted and given the position of Black Queen. However, it was clear that Sebastian Shaw was frightened by the witch although considering their association. Selene also develops a rivalry with the White Queen Emma Frost. When Kulan Gath transformed all of Manhattan into a Hyborian Age land, Selene was unaffected by the dark sorcerer's spell. It was revealed that she was an old enemy of Gath: the two had feuded long ago during the actual Hyborian Age. Selene's spells caused Storm and Callisto to remember Gath was an enemy, eventually leading to his defeat. Season 1 Selene was briefly seen at the final episodes of the season as Katrina, Cody and Vice were looking for a way to stop Zion and his coven. Learning that he knew Selene, Katrina figured that she might know some way to stop him. They found Selene with the hellfire club. Katrina and Vice were intercepted by Harry Leland and Donald Pierce, while Cody was attacked by Mastermind. After easily taking them down, they were overpowered by Selene, they engaged in a conversation. Selene revealed to Cody who his mother was and showed to be disgusted by his father stating that "I told my sister that she would be better off with a pig rather than your father.". She came to NO and with the help of Davina and her army of vampires, Zion was defeated as Selene turned him into a vampire and he was trapped within Pandora's box. Selene seemingly returned, but not before giving the Book of the Damned back to Katrina. Season 2 Selene put her plan of reaching godhood in motion. The Inhuman Ivara became afilliated with her. After Ivara attacked Gwen, she was ordered by Selene to bring Gemma to her, knowing that it would be wise to have a necromancer by her side to make her plan all the more effective. After engaging in a fake fight to protect Gwen, Gemma allegedly drained her of her life-force, Ivara turned Gwen into a candy and after eating it she found out that it was a lie. After taking Gemma to Selene, Ivara called Gemma a double agent to which she replied wasn't true. Ivara simply replied to her, saying "I should know of double agents, I am one." before they were teleported to another location. After reaching her state of godhood, but with drawbacks due to the X-men trying to stop her, she revealed that she had known that Ivara and Gemma were plotting to betray her. She confronted Ivara as Gemma stepped away. After Selene tried to take her down, she was turned into a candy and ate by Ivara. In doing so, she absorbed Selene's massive power and started to nuke the world and cause a genocide. She was stopped by the team. Powers and Abilities Life-Force Absorption: 'Selene can psionically drain the life forces of other human beings into herself, by physical touch. If she drained a person’s entire life force from him or her, the victim dies and the victim’s body crumbles into dust. It is unknown how often Selene must drain life force from another human in order to survive. A side-effect of this absorption is that Selene takes on the memories of her victims. Great expenditure of power causes Selene to age, but she can rejuvenate herself by absorbing more life force. Selene will not age as long as she maintains her supply of absorbed life force. * '''Psychic Vampire: ' If Selene drains only part of a victim's life force, Selene achieves a measure of psychic control over her victim’s mind. Through unknown means, Selene can cause a human being to become a psychic vampire like herself, but be subordinate to Selene’s own will. '''Physical Enhancement: '''By using the absorbed life energies that sustain her, Selene can enhance her physical strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, and durability to superhuman levels. * '''Superhuman Strenght * Superhuman Endurance * Superhuman Reflexes * Superhuman Speed: '''Selene can momentarily move at superhuman speeds of around 175 miles/hour, though this requires a heavy expenditure of energy and can cause her to age rapidly and require more life energy immediately. '''Telekinesis: Her telekinetic abilities gives her complete psionic control over inanimate objects. * Telekinetic Animation: '''She can cause inanimate objects to move according to her will by projecting part of her absorbed life force into them. * '''Inanimate Disintegration: '''She can cause inanimate objects in her presence to disintegrate. She cannot, however, rearrange the atomic or molecular structure of matter. '''Pyrokinesis: '''Selene can psionically generate and project intense heat and flame from and around her body or direct it at certain distances. The exact radius remains unknown. She was also able to manipulate flame created from other sources and could magnify their intensity or snuff them. The flames Selene generated could also be illusory in effect; for example, she could focus the power on an object making it appear to be on fire while it was not being damaged by the flames at all. Selene instinctively created a psionic force field about her entire body that protected her from the effects of the heat and flame she created and from other sources as well. '''Telepathy: '''High Order telepath. She is capable of displaying various psionic feats with the minds of others including reading and communicating with thoughts over vast distances. * '''Psi-Screen: '''Selene is able to shield herself from psionic intrusion. * '''Mental Bolts: She can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness. She was even able to temporarily subdue the Grey Hulkwith this power before he could fight it off. * Hypnotic Trance: She can induce a momentary hypnotic trance state in people around her. Often used along with her speed to create the illusion of teleportation. * Astral Projection: Her telepathy is strong enough for her to survive in her astral form. Immortality: '''She is immortal, she can regenerate injured or missing cells from even near-fatal injuries. * '''Rapid Healing: '''She has the ability to endure injuries (within unknown limits) without lasting harm or even feeling pain such as knife wounds. '''Sorcery: '''She possesses considerable magical abilities, having gained a great deal of mystical knowledge over the millennia. The number of magical effects that she can create has yet to be cataloged, but it is known that she can cast and counteract spells and summon extra-dimensional demons. '''Darkforce or Shadow Manipulation: It is seen that she can turn herself into a shadow figure enabling her to blend in. Selene was considered as a possible Sorcerer Supreme. Strenght Level Selene possesses superhuman strength, enabling her to lift (press) about 1,500 pounds under optimal conditions.